FALL RIVER — As fiscal 2015 budget talks continue, the Flanagan administration is also looking ahead to fiscal 2016 for potential new revenue sources.

Those sources may include the city’s largest nonprofit groups, which, technically, have tax-exempt status.

But the city may be able to still collect revenue from the largest of those groups if it reaches payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreements with them. Those agreements would be voluntary, not compulsory, city officials have said.

There are currently no particulars on how the PILOT program would operate. But officials say they’ve looked at PILOTs that have been initiated in other cities — most notably Boston and Providence — and are looking at those programs’ successes and shortcomings to see whether one can be formalized in Fall River, and how much revenue can be realized from it.

City Administrator Cathy Ann Viveiros said the city’s financial team has already begun compiling a list of the nonprofits that could be approached about the program.

She also said it’s a concept that’s not new to the city.

“We have current PILOTs,” said Viveiros, noting that those PILOTs include some of the city’s high-rise projects and solar farms, including a 35.7-acre farm on Innovation Way and a 12.5-acre farm on Commerce Drive.

The goal is to expand on those PILOTS and to come up with a uniform set of guidelines, which Viveiros said should be done by the end of the summer. Then the city would begin the process of contacting nonprofits this fall.

If a nonprofit were to begin making payments in lieu of taxes, the rates would likely be much less than actual assessed taxes. Taking Fall River’s tax rate for fiscal 2014 — $12.58 per $1,000, according to the Department of Revenue — a PILOT would be a percentage of that rate. Viveiros suggested it may be determined to be 20 to 25 percent.

According to figures from the tax assessor's office, in fiscal 2014, the total value of all residential, commercial, industrial and personal properties in the city added up to a little more than $5.2 billion.

Contained in that number is the total value of properties owned by nonprofit, tax-exempt entities, which in fiscal 2014 was $251.7 million. Religious organizations owned nearly $129 million of that property.

Officials told the City Council on Tuesday night that PILOT agreements could potentially bring $300,000 into city coffers annually.

The administration cited Providence’s PILOT agreement with Brown University as an example of a successful agreement.

But Fall River’s current scenario is far different from the one that occurred in Providence, which two years ago had faced a more than $22 million budget shortfall.

Brown, which is Providence’s largest land owner with more than 200 properties valued at $2.5 billion, boosted its PILOT payments to the city from around $2 million a year to more than $30 million, to help fill that shortfall.

Page 2 of 2 - Other large nonprofits, including John & Wales University and Lifespan Hospitals, also recently boosted their PILOT payments to Providence.

In Fall River, Viveiros said she didn’t expect to see the city collecting new PILOT payments until fiscal 2016.

“I think that’s a very realistic timeline,” city assessor Don Berube said. “To expect we would have funds to impact fiscal '16 is certainly our goal.”

At least one city councilor, Raymond Mitchell, is on board.

“Personally, I think it’s something that’s long past due,” Mitchell said Thursday. “We talked about that five years ago. It fell to the back burner and never was acted on. But as our financial picture is becoming more and more dire, it’s something we should pursue.”

Mitchell added that those organizations are the recipients of taxpayer-provided services, including access to the police and fire departments.

But, Mitchell said, it does not go far enough.

“For example, when we start going to programs such as pay-as-you-throw because we cannot get enough of a revenue source, we need to ensure the city is operating efficiently," Mitchell said. "It’s also incumbent upon us to expand the tax base by growing new businesses and putting more people to work.”

When asked if $300,000, which would pay the salaries of about six firefighters, were a significant enough revenue source, Mitchell said he felt the administration was probably being “conservative in their assessment.”

“But right now, six firefighters would be a godsend,” Mitchell said.

It appears that leaders of local nonprofit groups are just learning of the potential PILOT program.

“We have no comment at this time,” said Peter Cohenno, spokesman for SouthCoast Health, which operates Charlton Memorial Hospital in addition to hospitals in New Bedford and Wareham. Charlton was mentioned as the city’s largest nonprofit, owning $33 million worth of property in Fall River.

Notification is to come.

“Once we get through the budget, we would have more time available, and start reaching out,” Viveiros said. “We may want to put together group of people who would get involved in outreach effort.”